02 Buck Naked (9 page)

“Well, fuck.” Buck rubbed his hand over his face. “Sorry, Fred. That just slipped out.”

“Don’t apologize. Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

“Has he been causing her trouble?”

“Not until now. But I promise you, seeing her with you set him off.” He sighed. “A word to the wise. I’d watch myself with that one. No telling what he might take it into his head to do.” He paused. “You know what I mean, right?”

Buck sighed. “Yeah, I know. I guess some things you can’t ever run away from.”

“Well, you can always use me for a personal reference. I have faith in you.”

“I don’t know why. You hardly know me.”

Barnes pushed his coffee cup aside. “I haven’t gotten where I am by not having good instincts about people. It’s a lot more important to me what a man is than what he was. I’d put my money on you any time.”

“You can’t know how much I appreciate that. You’re the first person in a long time who’s said anything like that to me.” He held out his hand and Barnes shook it.

“I wish you good luck,” the older man said. “With the ranch and with Amy.”

“Thanks. I’ll need it.”

He watched as Barnes walked toward the door. Despite the warning about Cade Hannigan, Buck felt good about settling here for the first time since he’d bought the ranch. Maybe he could weather whatever storm hit after all.

But then he stepped outside and caught the scene across the street from him and curled his hands into fists.

I never should have gone to the post office today.

Amy stood on the sidewalk outside the building, cursing her decision. What she mailed wasn’t so important it couldn’t have waited until tomorrow. Or even Monday. But Matt had been in and out of the house so many times she’d asked him if he wanted to install a revolving door. She wasn’t sure which of them was angrier—Matt because she wouldn’t answer his questions or herself because she resented him poking into her business.

What was it he’d said earlier? Oh, yeah.

“I’m just concerned about you jumping into something without knowing exactly what that something is.”

Like she was eighteen years old and couldn’t think for herself.

She’d barely been able to restrain herself from punching him. Instead, she’d gathered the mail and her purse and stormed out of the house. Maybe after the post office she’d treat herself to lunch and cool off a little. She didn’t like fighting with Matt, but he was really crossing a line.

And now here she was trapped with Cade Hannigan himself. Somehow she’d ended up with her back to the building, his arms caging her on either side. She looked anxiously around. Fred Barnes had disappeared into the parking lot behind the bank and the few people who saw them stared with curiosity.

“Let me go, you jackass.” She looked over his shoulder at the people on the sidewalk. “Hey! Someone get this jerk away from me.”

“Don’t tell me you’re trying to run away from me, short stuff.” He turned his head. “It’s okay, folks. Y’all know Amy and I are friends. We’re just having a little disagreement. What you might call a lover’s spat.” He turned his attention back to her and grinned.

She was sure he meant the grin to be teasing, but on him it had a nasty look.

“Back off, Cade. I have nothing to say to you.” She tried to duck under one of his arms, but he blocked her just as quickly.

“I’ll bet you had plenty to say to that asshole last night.” The look in his eyes was cold. “You don’t go playing with strange stuff in my territory.”

Again Amy looked frantically for someone to intervene, but all she saw was his friends waving people away.

“
Your
territory? Now you think you own the whole county? People warned me about you and I should have listened to them. Anyway, I think you’re mistaken about who’s the asshole.” She bit off each word. “Besides, we’re done. Through. Finished. I’m over you. Now get out of the way so I can move.”

He tilted his head slightly, let his eyes roam slowly and deliberately over her body. “You know, maybe I made a mistake tossing you out when I did. I was always taught you throw the little ones back in the pond, but I hear they can sometimes put up a good fight. Let’s see if they’re right.”

He grabbed the front of her shirt, holding it so tightly it nearly choked her. With his other hand he held her head in place as he moved in to kiss her. Instead, she chomped down on his lower lip, hard enough to draw blood. He lifted his head at once, wiped his mouth and stared at the blood on his hand. He still had the fabric of her shirt clenched in his fist, lifting her so she was on tiptoe.

“Now that was just a big mistake on your part, bitch.”

She saw the blow coming and tried desperately to move her head away. But before he could actually touch her, he was lifted bodily away from her. She opened her eyes wide to see Cade dangling from Buck Montgomery’s hands. It was a tossup which man was more furious, but the sparks around them were nearly visible.

“I don’t take kindly to seeing a guy manhandle a lady.” Buck’s voice was very controlled, but there was no mistaking the fury in it. He looked at the men watching from the sidelines. “And you shouldn’t either. What kind of assholes are you?” He released his hold on Cade and shoved him to the side. “I think you’d better take your sorry ass out of here while you can still walk. Before I call the cops.”

Cade brushed his shirt as if ridding himself of dirt and sneered at Buck. “You’d better worry about your own ass, cowboy. I don’t know who you think you are, but I can sweep the county with you.”

“I don’t think you want to try it.” Buck took Amy’s hand and very gently tugged her toward him. When he spoke to her, his voice had softened. “Come on. Let me walk you to your truck.”

“Damn you!” Cade shouted. “Damn both of you.”

“Better get your sorry self out of here.” Buck’s voice was lethal-sounding. “And take your slimy pals with you.”

“Come on, Cade.” One of his friends had come up to him. “Let’s get out of here before half the town turns out.”

“I think we better move too.” Buck’s voice was low, almost gentle.

She didn’t need much urging and easily let him walk her toward where she’d parked. She was still shaking from the entire episode and reveled in the warmth and security of his arm. When they reached her truck, he turned her so she faced him and gently touched her cheek.

“I can’t believe he would have hit you. Maybe I should call the sheriff anyway.”

Amy shook her head. “Just let it go. Please. The less I have to do with him the better. He was very clever at hiding who he really was from me, and I was stupid enough not to sense what lay beneath that slick surface. I’m okay now. Really. And thank you so much.”

“You might want to mention this to Matt,” he told her.

She shook her head. “Are you kidding? He’s already one step away from killing the man, and Cade Hannigan’s not worth going to jail for. And don’t you tell him, either.” When he didn’t say anything, she searched his face and realized that somehow someone had given him the details. She swallowed back the shame that reared up. “You know about it.”

His hand was still gentle on her face. “Bare details. What I do know is the man’s a fool and an idiot. I’d thoroughly enjoy taking him apart one piece at a time.”

She lowered her eyes, wondering when she’d last felt so miserable. “I don’t seem to make very good choices where men are concerned.”

He tilted her face up to look at him. “Are you including me in that sweeping statement?”

She shrugged. “I don’t really know what to make of you, Buck. You send me mixed signals. One minute I think we have something really fantastic between us, the next you act as if I‘ve got typhoid.”

“It’s not you, sugar. It’s me. If I were being totally honest, I’d have to tell you a man like me is poison to a woman like you.”

She frowned. “What exactly do you mean by that? I look at you and see only good things.” She grinned weakly. “Except you keep running hot and cold on me.”

“I know. And I apologize. It’s just…” He shook his head and then curved his mouth in a smile. “But one thing’s for sure. We both wanted what we had last night. Agreed?”

Oh, yeah. No question about that. “Agreed.”

“Then let’s just see where this takes us, just like we said.” He opened the truck door for her. “I think what you need is a change of scenery. If I didn’t have all this going on this afternoon, I’d make you come back to the ranch with me. How about coming by tonight and we’ll go take a couple of the horses out for a little ride?”

“But you already said how busy you’d be. I don’t want to disrupt your work.”

A smile flashed briefly. “Maybe what I need is to be disrupted. And I’ve got a horse I think you’d just love.”

“A horseback ride?”

“Yeah. And right at sunset’s the best time for one. You can take another look at my new cattle, and we can stop and have a cold drink by the stream running through the back pasture.”

Take a chance, Amy.
“Okay. It’s a deal. What time?”

“Eight o’clock? That too late?”

She laughed. “Not at all. You bring the cold drinks and I’ll bring some of the leftover chocolate cake.”

He smiled. “That will keep me going all day.” He touched the brim of his Stetson. “Later.”

She turned over the ignition on her truck and waved at him as she pulled away from the curb. The man was definitely a puzzle. But she was beginning to think she wasn’t the real problem. Buck Montgomery was carrying some heavy baggage around with him, and she just wished she knew what it was.

“Oh! She’s a sweetheart!”

Amy smiled at the buckskin mare Buck led out of the barn. The animal pranced a little as if showing off and then nuzzled Amy’s hand when she held it out to her.

“Her name’s Sunflower,” Buck told her. “I think it kind of suits her.”

“Yes, it does.” Amy stroked the horse’s head. “Where’d you get her? I know the Hayeses sold off their horses before you bought the ranch.”

“Fred Barnes, the realtor who sold me the ranch, turned me on to a guy in the next county who had some horses he was wanting to sell. Got four really good ones. Wait until you see the one I’m riding.”

He came back out leading a big Appaloosa, a gelding who still had plenty of spit and fire in him.

“This one’s called Shadow Dancer. But the guy I bought him from assured me the shadows don’t scare him.” He looped the horse’s reins over the top of a fence post. “Here. Let me give you a leg up.”

Amy stepped into his cupped hands and vaulted lightly into the saddle. Sunflower didn’t move, just turned her head around with a look in her eyes that asked if they were going somewhere.

Buck stowed a container with Amy’s cake and some drinks in his saddlebags and tied a rolled-up quilt at the back of the saddle. Then he mounted his horse with an unconscious grace that told her he’d spent most of his life in a saddle. Doing what, she wondered. Why didn’t he talk about it? He looked almost like some ancient warrior, straight in the saddle, at one with his horse. Who was he really? Where had he come from? Wherever it was, he was raw, masculine sex silhouetted in the fading sunlight.

Her mouth watered.

“Let’s go,” he called, disrupting her thoughts.

They walked the horses out of the yard, pausing while Buck leaned down to open the gate to the nearest pasture. Then he took off at an easy lope. Sunflower needed very little urging to follow. Before long they moved into the second pasture where Buck’s cattle were penned now. Some grazed, some stood around switching their tails at flies, while others lay down in the last of the sun’s heat. They were beautiful, she thought. Purebred Black Angus with their shiny black coats.

They rode easily along the edge of the pasture, skirting the undulating waves of cattle until Buck stopped to open yet another gate and they moved into unoccupied land.

Buck turned and pulled his horse up next to hers.

“I don’t know how much you’ve ever seen of this ranch, but it’s ten thousand acres in all. Plenty of room to build up the herd. Fred negotiated a fair price for it, and I think we were all happy with the deal.”

“That’s what I heard.” Amy held her reins loosely in her hands, which she rested on the saddle. “I’ve never really seen all this land back here. It’s gorgeous.”

“It’s not Stark Ranch, but it will do.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, cowboy,” she told him.

He pointed at a small stand of oak trees in the distance. “The creek’s right over there. Race you to the trees.”

He kicked Shadow Dancer into a full gallop.

“Come on, girl,” Amy cried as she urged Sunflower to follow.

It was exhilarating running with the wind, the last rays of the sun kissing her skin. She almost didn’t want to stop when they reached the trees.

She hopped down and stood looking at the clear creek running over a stone bed. “Oh, what a jewel of a place.”

“I like to sit here and think,” he told her and held out a hand. “Come on. Let’s sit down and have a little picnic.”

Buck spread the quilt out and then unhooked his saddlebags to take out the goodies. Sitting in such a serene environment, enjoying the rich chocolate cake and the cool drinks, Amy felt the earlier tension of the day ease from her. They ate without speaking, but it was a comfortable silence, as if they were unwilling to disturb nature. She cleaned up their snack and put everything back in the saddlebag. When she turned back, Buck was stretched out full length beneath one of the trees.